Jean-Pierre Changeux

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Jean-Pierre Changeux

Jean-Pierre Changeux (born April 6, 1936 in Domont , France) is professor of molecular neurobiology at the Collège de France and at the Pasteur Institute (since 1967). The main research topics of the former student of Jacques Monod are the molecular and cellular mechanisms of signal transduction by receptors in the brain. Changeux and co-workers are authors of a theory on the epigenesis of neural networks and higher brain functions through the selective stabilization of synapses .

Changeux studied at the École normal supérieure (Paris) with a degree in 1955. He obtained his DEA degree in 1957 and received his doctorate in 1964 under Jacques Monod and Francois Jacob at the Pasteur Institute. In 1965/66 he was a post-doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley and in 1967 at Columbia University (medical faculty). From 1972 he was in the research group for molecular neurobiology at the Pasteur Institute, where he became professor in 1975. From 1975 to 2006 he was also Professor of Cell Communication at the Collège de France.

His doctoral thesis dealt with the regulation of enzymes , where he introduced the concept of allosteric interaction . A signal attacks one point of the enzyme, which leads to a change in conformation and thus influences the effect of the enzyme (binding site to the substrate at a site that is spatially separate from it). He later applied the concept to the acetylcholine receptor in the nervous system. In particular, he investigated the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor , which forms an ion channel in the cell membrane of nerve cells and muscle cells. This was the first membrane receptor that was isolated and characterized (structure, binding sites, precise functional mechanism by the Changeux group). In the 1990s he also associated higher cognitive functions with properties of transmitter receptors (e.g. emotions, drug addiction, long-term memory, attention with acetylcholine receptors ). His group blamed mutated hyperactive receptors for a form of epilepsy (autosomal dominant frontal lobe epilepsy) and loss of function of acetylcholine receptors for learning deficits and the acceleration of aging processes. He coined the term "receptor disease" for this.

The laudation for the Balzan Prize honors him with the words that he founded a new direction in the study of cognitive functions by connecting it to the molecular level, and as one of the fathers of modern neurobiology.

He wrote a popular science book on neurobiology at a high level (Der neural Mensch) and books on the artistic act of creation (Raison et plaisir) from a neurobiological perspective as well as discourses with the philosopher Paul Ricoeur and the mathematician Alain Connes .

Awards and memberships (selection)

Awarded twelve honorary doctorates .

Fonts

Books:

  • The neural human. How the soul works - the discoveries of new brain research. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-498-00865-X (original edition L'Homme Neuronal, Fayard, Paris, 1983, Hachette, Paris, 1998).
  • With Alain Connes: Thought Matter. Springer, Berlin et al. 1992, ISBN 3-540-54559-X (Original Matière à pensée, Odile Jacob 1989, Ed. Du Seuil 1992).
  • Raison et plaisir. Odile Jacob, Paris, 1992.
  • Publisher: Fondements naturels de l'éthique. Odile Jacob, Paris, 1993.
  • Editor with Jean Chavaillon: Origins of the Human Brain. (Fyssen Foundation Symposium 5), Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • Editor: Une même éthique pour tous? Odile Jacob, Paris, 1997.
  • With Paul Ricoeur: Ce qui nous fait penser. Odile Jacob, Paris, 1998, 2000 (English translation: What makes us think? A Neuroscientist and a Philosopher Argue about Ethics, Human Nature, and the Brain, Princeton University Press, 2000).

Articles (selection):

  • With J. Monod, J. Wyman: On the nature of allosteric transitions: a plausible model. J. Mol. Biol., Vol. 12, 1965, pp. 88-118.
  • Mit M. Kasai, CY Lee: The use of a snake venom toxin to characterize the cholinergic receptor protein. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sc. USA, Vol. 67, 1970, pp. 1241-1247.
  • With A. Danchin: The selective stabilization of developing synapses: a plausible mechanism for the specification of neuronal networks. A. Nature, Vol. 264, 1976, pp. 705-712.
  • With J. Giraudat et al .: Structure of the high affinity binding site for noncompetitive blockers of the acetylcholine receptor: Serine-262 of the delta subunit is labeled by [3 H] chlorpromazine. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 83, 1986, pp. 2719-2723.
  • With S. Dehaene: The Wisconsin card sorting test: theoretical analysis and modeling in a neuronal network. Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 1, 1991, pp. 62-79.
  • With M. Picciotto et al .: Abnormal avoidance learning in mice lacking functional high-affinity nicotine receptor in the brain. Nature, Vol. 374, 1995, pp. 65-67.
  • With M. Picciotto et al .: Acetylcholine receptors containing 2-subunit are involved in the reinforcing properties of nicotine. JP Nature, Vol 391, 1998, pp 173-177.
  • With M. Zoli et al: Increased neurodegeneration during aging in mice lacking high-affinity nicotinic receptors. EMBO J., Vol. 18, 1999, pp. 1235-1244.
  • With R. Klink et al: Molecular and physiological diversity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the midbrain dopaminergic nuclei. J. Neurosci., Vol. 21, 2001, pp. 1452-1463.
  • With S. Edelstein: Allosteric receptor after 30 years. Neuron, Vol. 21, 1998, pp. 959-980.
  • With S. Dehaene, M. Kerszeberg: A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks. JP Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), Vol. 95, 1998, pp. 14529-14534.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Changeux, Jean-Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French neurobiologist, professor of molecular neurobiology at the Collège de France and the Pasteur Institute (since 1967)
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Domont , France